Confession in pub revealed murderer Derek Potter’s lie

Derek Potter strangled his wife then made it appear as if she had killed herselfPA

A carpenter who strangled his wife of 26 years almost succeeded in persuading bungling police that she had killed herself, but was convicted after confessing to a colleague while at the pub.

Derek Potter, 64, told police that he had found his wife, Lesley, 66, hanged at their house in Swansea. Days before she was due to be cremated, however, he admitted to a colleague: “She was doing my head in, so I had to strangle her.”

He was reported to police, leading to a post-mortem examination which concluded that manual strangulation had played a part in the death.

Swansea crown court was told that police had made “mistakes” and that their response on the day of Mrs Potter’s death “was not as it should…

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